What is that "vwooooooooooohh" noise? If it's supposed to be city sirens, it sounds... way off the mark. I thought it was an audio issue with the video at first.
It really is bright and colourful for all the destruction going on. And the city is set amongst GHZ-esque patterned hills complete with some very geometric trees. Atmospherically, this game is currently right on point. It's serious, but it's distinctly Sonic. Wow. Just God damn this is really pretty.
Not sure if this is controversial, but the "boost" Sonic games are basically unplayable for most people. You just fly forward and can't tell what the fuck is going on. How games this unplayable are ever expected to appeal to a mass audience is beyond me. It's a very niche market, hard to bring new players into the fold, and therefore I would only expect a gradual decline in sales over time as the players who naturally leave the franchise outnumber those who join. Sounds like a solid Sega strategy to me. Pretty though...
Indeed it does but gosh do I hate Lost World's idle pose. Call it a nitpick but Sonic looks so restrained. Unleashed's one is a bit more generic but it just looks more natural to me.
I'm very surprised by the direction to make Eggman or whoever is controlling the new mechs attack a once populated city, especially as an opening level. There's even signs of resistance attacking the Eggrobo knockoffs. They wanted to distance themselves from 2005 and 2006 brand of edge for so long. Giving Eggman the balls to roll over a town again like in Adventure and actually depict it is a nice change of pace...even if what he was doing on other games was arguably worse (suck life energy off planet, blow it into shards to awaken an ancient evil, mindcontrol the population by enslaving and modifying aliens, fuck up time space, etc) It's like something Archie Eggman would do. Hopefully they don't go full retard. The city itself looks fantastic. The art direction is excellent and would make a great level in a non-destroyed state too. Very Sonicy after the disappointingly generic tripe in Lost World. I get the feeling like the trope is Westopolis done right? The gameplay is nothing to write home about since it looks to be the opening level hallway only with more spectacle this time. I really hope there are more Seaside Hills Act 2s in the game to really take advantage of the best of the boost gameplay. Looks like the boost particle effects aren't done. Though its interesting they've add a lot of particles to Sonic's jump and homing attack to make it look like the CGI depiction all the way back from Unleashed.
Looks like Red Rings are back. And this is probably the first instance of destroyed city in a Sonic game that feels right. It's not overly apocalyptic but it's not fake. It looks like Eggman is finally doing something for once and starting with the Death Egg Robots from level 1. Game looks nice too. I also like how we were all half right on the fate of the hedgehog engine. Not too much else to say really, just looking forward to seeing more of it. I'm also looking forward to this game coming out on the PC and having Generations levels ported over to this new engine :specialed: If this game does render GI in real time like Dario said, we won't be seeing flat looking level ports anymore.
The way the level is a mash up of two different themes makes me think the plot revolves around Eggman trying to combine the universes. We might be getting Crisis on Infinite Sonics.
I don't think it's that. It's a city or town that has some greenery outside of it. Which is a good step, because so many Sonic levels are thematic bubbles. Cites can be much more varied, and given how fast Sonic can run it makes sense that he would leave the city part of the city at some point. Oh interesting. According to Game Informer, the plot is that Eggman already won and took over the world. Very SatAM esq.
Well I'm just going off what Iizuka said in the panel explicitly, but I'd take it with a grain of salt when it comes to these things. We'll see how it actually works once the game is out. :v:
Uncompressed, 60fps footage (Fixed link, no key required) Screenshots in super high resolution Spoiler Spoiler
I agree. I'm trying to figure out what the appeal is for this kind of gameplay. Often you can just boost through the stage without touching other buttons. It's not rewarding for me and I don't find it fun. But a lot of people must really like it if Sega keeps making games like this.
This becomes much less the case when you reach later levels, particularly in Generations when you need to be a bit more methodical about your movements. Boosting constantly in levels like Crisis City or Seaside Hill will end badly, unless you know exactly what you're doing. But it's definitely a huge issue with earlier stages like Green Hill, which you can beat with nothing but well-timed boosts. And it's a problem with the gameplay in general. There's not much that you can do whilst moving that quickly. This level we're seeing here really is not exciting me. Remove the (gorgeous) scenery and it's just Sonic on a straight line.
The music is a little boring, but the level already has many more alternate routes or shortcuts than any part of Tropical Resort's 3D sections, so that's good.
Oh well, it's the same boring linear gameplay as always. I really wonder how Sonic became... this. It's like someone at Sega one day woke up and went "Sonic running really fast in a straight line (plus the occasional gimmick) is the perfect way to convert the versatile 2D 360° gameplay to 3D", and somehow everyone went with it.
God damn, bless that Hedgehog Engine, the fact that it's mantaining 60 through all that is bootiful. I hope the Switch version can preform this optimally.
If anything, a lot of the boost2win shenanigans I blame on the people who think "Sonic is only ever about going fast" and forgetting everything else on why Sonic is good, all because they don't want a challenge or fun. Nope, just GATTA GU FEST forever. I blame marketing and PR hyping up the "Sonic is the fastest thing alive" thing too much for why boosting is such a thing now.
I mean, maybe the Switch version will run at 30fps on an external monitor and 60fps on the screen, but who knows? I'm bracing for the possibility that a lot of the beautiful effects will disappear as they did in the transition from Unleashed to Generations, but worse. I am looking forward to Switch footage so we can make comparisons. Was an approximate release date mentioned?
